Document 2joV0jggnKEG8LNK3xe9XxyZN

polychlorinated biphenyl*!, a group continuing their Investigation. Industrial chemicals, have been found In A spokesman for the Food and Drug tissues of wildlife in many parts of the world Administration told Environment that the FDA (Environment, January/February 1970). Like is now conducting toxicity tests on PCB DDT they have been Implicated In the decline compounds In order to set guidelines Tor of some bird populations , Now, a group of levels in iood products. Until levels are set, scientists In the Netherlands has identified Xththte FDA will handle each case individually, two highly toxic contaminants In each of two PCB preparations, but failed to find them in a DDT MAY BE AFFECTING fertility in women, third. The contaminants may cause birth according to Drs. W.L. Heinrichs and R.J, defects In man, and are chemically similar Gellert, of tha University of Washington to the dioxins, contaminants found In the weed-killers 2 ,4-D and 2,4,S-T, The two Medical School. In a paper delivered at an American Cancer Society seminar, April 4, compounds most heavily contaminated, Phcnoclor DP6 and Clophen A60, are produced in France and Germany, respectively, while the third, compound. Is formulated In the United States by Monsanto Chemical Company. t The contaminant compounds, chlorinated dlbenzofurans, were isolated from the two European PCB compounds and Injected Into the air cells of chlclten eggs at a calculated Heinrichs and Gellert explained that because DDT Is known to produce effects similar to those caused by the hormone estrogen, they treated newborn rats with fairly high levels of DDT on the second, third, and fourth days of life to see if reproduction would be impaired. The rat* seemed to develop normally, were fertile for a time, and then all of the treated rats became prematurely infertile. The scientists felt that the DDT affected the brain maximum dose of 0.2 microgram per egg. All of the newborn In such a way as to produce a of the embryos died within the first four days permanent defect in the secretion of hormones of incubation. Earlier studies of these that regulate fertility. Because DDT has been compounds confirm their extreme toxicity. Single oral doses as low as 0.S to 1.0 shown to be capable of entering the fetus m humans, Heinrichs and Gellert warned that milligram per kilogram of body weight have "the possibility exists that some forms of r produced severe and often fatal liver damage infertility or menstrual Irregularity in adults in rabbits, are associated with the presence of this ^A spokesman for the Monsanto Chemical ubiquitous chemical." /Company, the sole producer of PCB compounds i I in this country, told Environment that because NITROGEN, not phosphates, is the limiting f of differences in the manufacturing process, factor in eutrophication (overgrowth of algae! I chlorinated dibenrofurans are not part of the in the coastal marine environment, according \ company's final PCB product. to John H. Ryther and William M. Dunstan of The potential hazard of PCB was underlined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, by an action of the New York State Department Woods Hole, Massachusetts (Sconce, March of Agriculture, which condemned 130,000 12), Ryther and Dunstan found that in tne spent laying chicken* In Sullivan, Orange, surface waters of the ocean there is always a and Holsten counties when the department small, ubiquitous excess of phosphate, found that PCBs In the fat of the birds ranged relative to the amount of nitrogen available from five to twenty parts per million. The chickens were to be used in food products. for nutrient use by elgae. Normally, the nutrient ~,nr: quickly consumed by a system The source of the PCBs was traced to wafer-meal feed, e diet composed of stale bakery products. So far New York State officials have been unable to explein how the contaminant get into the feed, but they are is tile ....... limit* the growth of that system Ryther and Dunstan noted thet although phosphates ere the critical nutrient In ror.y freshwater lakes, In coastal waters and estuaries, "it Is unquestionably nitrogen that Mir 1ST i HONS 206936 limits and controls algal growth and eutrophication." They futther note that removing phosphates from detergents wou Id at best be useless to the coastal waters that receive roughly half of the country's sewage, At worst, replacing phosphates with a nitrogen-containing compound (such as NTA' would probably Increase eutrophication along the nation's coastlines. The situation in freshwater lakes and streams may be quite different, however, ' THE FEDERAL Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced at a press conference March 16 that It was initiating an administrative review of three pestlcides--aldrln, dieldrin, and mirex. EPA also disclosed that it was continuing its review of DDT and the herbicide 2,4,S-T; not having found these substances to present an imminent hazard to public health, EPA has not suspended the use of the chemicals. Aldrln, dieldrin, and mirax may still be sold during the review process. Aldrln is used as an insecticide for corn and citrus, and both aldrln and dlaldrln are used for seed treatment and for termite control. Dieldrin is a persistent chemical in the environment. {Aldrln quickly breaks down to dieldrin.) Dieldrin has been shown to be concentrated In the fatty tissues of a number of animals, including man, and at low doses is more toxic to warm-blooded animals than is DDT. Mirex, a persistant chemical known to be toxic to a variety of animals, Is used primarily by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to control the fire ant {see "Ant War," Environment, December 1970), Following the administrative review, EPA may cancel the registrations of the chemicals under consideration, or It may continue their present registrations. More likely, though, a limitation will be placed on the use of the chemicals. William D. Ruckelshaus, administrator of EPA, noted in this regard, "We are considerably * trielured by existing laws. We have asked Congress for a change in the law to permit us to exercise finer /dg merits regarding the use of pesticides.1' /mMEASUREMENTS made by Dr, Robert zb Risebrough, of the University of California at Berkeley, show that PCB and DDT compounds In urban sewage outlalls in California range from none detected to 220 pounds per day for PCBs and from none detected to 213 pounds per day for DDT. ThgJUjhertfljure^ifo^ot^ PCBs and DDT, were found at the white Point Sewage Treatment Plant, located in the Los Angeles area. The PCB outflow there was SO times more than at any of the other nine sampling stations; and the DDT outflow was more than one thousand times greater than that at any of the other stations, The White Point plant is downstream from the Montrose Chemical Corporation, against whom the Environmental Defense Fund has filed a suit for discharging DDT Into the Los Angeles sewer system. Although the White Point plant discharges a larger total quantity of PCBs than any of the other sampling stations, the concentration of<Cfi4iILUlS^liiiififit was found to be greatest at the plant {also in the Los Angeles area). The source of PCB compounds In the sewage <s not known. TEST? FOR the presence of seven metals in the nation's surface waters have revealed that although most of the water surveyed met U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) drinking water standards, some localized areas contained excessive amounts of arsenic, cadmium, chromium (hexavalent), cobalt, lead, zinc, or mercury. The U.S. Geological Survey, which conducted the testing, reported in a news release (March 31) that 4 percent oi the 720 samples taken contained cadmium in excess of the PHS standards. Two percent of the samples exceeded the PHS standard for arsenic. A few samples contained excess lead or mercury. No sample exceeded the PHS standard for chromium, and no standard has yet been set for either cobalt or zinc in drinking water. Dr, William T. Pecora, director of the Geological Survey, noted that values obtained for Individual samples mav not ba typical of the sampling sites because concentrations of contaminants may vary significantly. Pecora also pointed out that background levels of the seven metals In HONS 206937 EntifgnmtRL Vol li Iso 4